scholarly journals Geometric vulnerability of democratic institutions against lobbying: A sociophysics approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (01) ◽  
pp. 13-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Galam
Keyword(s):  
Critical Value ◽  
Local Power ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Pyramidal Structure ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Voting Scheme ◽  
Probabilistic Character ◽  
Lobbying Group ◽  
Hierarchical Scheme

An alternative voting scheme is proposed to fill the democratic gap between a pre-sident elected democratically via universal suffrage (deterministic outcome, the actual majority decides), and a president elected by one person randomly selected from the population (probabilistic outcome depending on respective supports). Indeed, moving from one voting agent to a group of [Formula: see text] randomly selected voting agents reduces the probabilistic character of the outcome. Accordingly, building [Formula: see text] such groups, each one electing its president (elementary bricks), to constitute a group of the groups with the [Formula: see text] local presidents electing a higher-level president, does reduce further the outcome probabilistic aspect. The process is then repeated [Formula: see text] times to reach a bottom-up pyramidal structure with [Formula: see text] levels, [Formula: see text] elementary bricks at the bottom and a president at the top. Agents at the bottom are randomly selected but higher-level presidents are all designated according to the respective local majorities within the groups which elect them. At the top of the hierarchy the president is still elected with a probability but the distance from a deterministic outcome reduces quickly with increasing [Formula: see text]. At a critical value [Formula: see text] the outcome turns deterministic recovering the same result a universal suffrage would yield. This alternative hierarchical scheme introduces several social advantages like the distribution of local power to the competing minority, which thus makes the structure more resilient, yet preserving the presidency allocation to the actual majority. It also produces an area around 50% for which the president is elected with an almost-equiprobability slightly biased in favor of the actual majority. However, our results reveal the existence of a severe geometric vulnerability to lobbying. It is shown that a tiny lobbying group is able to kill the democratic balance by seizing the presidency democratically. It is sufficient to complete a correlated distribution of a few agents at the hierarchy bottom. Moreover, at the present stage, identifying an actual killing distribution is not feasible, which sheds a disturbing light on the devastating effect geometric lobbying can have on democratic hierarchical institutions.

The Impact of Universal Suffrage: A Comparison of Popular and Property Voting

1967 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1078-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth N. Vines ◽  
Henry Robert Glick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Crucial Element ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
The Impact

The attainment of universal suffrage over various forms of voting restrictions has been one of the major accomplishments in the development of modern democratic institutions. Struggles for the vote have had to overcome restrictions based on factors such as sex, race and tenure of property. While gaps in the exercise of the franchise still remain, formal restrictions on voting in the United States have been largely removed.However, an important question, largely uninvestigated, concerns the “costs” of the universal franchise in terms of the quality of government and its impact upon policy decisions. Do the disadvantages of universal suffrage offset advantages said to be gained, particularly in Western nations, such as increased legitimization of decisions and stability of regimes? Many of the past and present opponents of the extension of voting have argued that the poor results to be expected from the impact of universal suffrage far outweigh the advantages. Clearly, the problem of “costs” is important, for it is a crucial element in the argument over democracy and the vote.

Incarceration, Interrogation, and Counterterror: Do (Liberal) Democratic Institutions Constrain Leviathan?

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (03) ◽  
pp. 421-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will H. Moore
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The People ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Multiple State ◽  
Douglass North

States represent a solution to an important set of economic, political, and social problems. Whether one turns to philosophers such as Hobbes or Locke or more recent work by rational institutionalists such as Douglass North, it is something of a received wisdom that powerful states play a central and vital role in fostering economic, political, and social cooperation. The other edge of that sword, of course, is that powerful states that claim a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of coercion are ideally situated to predate, using methods that include incarceration without trial and torture. The very power that makes states effective at engaging in cooperation can weaken other organizations that might deter the state from predation. While democratic theory is not necessarily focused on the question of how we might constrain a powerful state's predation, democracy is—and, more specifically, liberal democratic institutions are—widely held to be one of the most important tools at our disposal to deter predation (e.g., Staton and Reenock 2010). Democracy, of course, refers to rule by the people, and in this article, I focus on universal suffrage as the means by which those who wield state power produce rule by the people. I refer to liberal democratic institutions, by contrast, as those institutions that perform a distinct—and, one can argue, antidemocratic—function: their purpose is to distribute power among multiple state actors in an effort to address the second edge of the sword described above and limit the tyranny of majorities. This article shows how this distinction usefully assists our assessment of the Bush administration's incarceration and interrogation policies in its war on terror.

The Place of Plural Voting in Mill's Conception of Representative Government

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale E. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Representative Government ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Voting Scheme ◽  
Amy Gutmann ◽  
David Brink

AbstractWhile it may not be surprising that Mill's proposal for a “plural voting” scheme that would award more votes to citizens with more education has few contemporary supporters, it is surprising that so many interpreters take him to regard plural voting as merely a temporary measure meant to ease the transition from restricted to universal suffrage. Contra Amy Gutmann, Maria Morales, Wendy Donner, David Brink, Wendy Sarvasy, Bruce Baum, and Jonathan Riley, I argue that Mill believes that plural voting should always accompany universal suffrage and thus that it should be in place indefinitely.

Clinical and epidemiological picture of syphilitic infection at present stage

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 42-45
Author(s):  
A. A. Bagirova ◽  
K. M. Lomonosov
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Anatomical Changes

A statistical analysis of the syphilis incidence in Moscow and regions from 2006 to 2017 was carried out. Despite a decrease in the general syphilis incidence an increase in incidence of such severe forms as late neurosyphilis and cardiovascular syphilis was observed. We analyzed 1,600 archive case histories of inpatients and outpatients of the Sechenov University clinics in Moscow and identified the specific lesions in heart tissues, blood vessels and the nervous system. in literal data a relatively small number of cardiosyphilis cases was described. it can be explained by the fact that earlier only gummas, that are rarely to be located in the heart and difficult to be identified clinically, were considered to be the only specific pathological and anatomical changes for syphilis of the heart.

Bangladesh Votes-1991: Building Democratic Institutions

Asian Survey ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 683-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Baxter ◽  
Syedur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Institutions

VLS Growth of Si nanowhiskers on a H-terminated Si{111} surface

1998 ◽  
Vol 536 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Ozaki ◽  
Y. Ohno ◽  
S. Takeda ◽  
M. Hirata
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Growth Condition ◽  
Growth Mechanism ◽  
Quantum Confinement ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Extended Defects ◽  
Vapor Liquid Solid ◽  
Minimum Diameter ◽  
Vls Growth ◽  
Vapor Liquid

AbstractWe have grown Si nanowhiskers on a Si{1111} surface via the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. The minimum diameter of the crystalline is 3nm and is close to the critical value for the effect of quantum confinement. We have found that many whiskers grow epitaxially or non-epitaxially on the substrate along the 〈112〉 direction as well as the 〈111〉 direction.In our growth procedure, we first deposited gold on a H-terminated Si{111} surface and prepared the molten catalysts of Au and Si at 500°C. Under the flow of high pressure silane gas, we have succeeded in producing the nanowhiskers without any extended defects. We present the details of the growth condition and discuss the growth mechanism of the nanowhiskers extending along the 〈112〉 direction.

Decompensation placental dysfunction: diagnostics and delivery tactics

2017 ◽  
pp. 66-68
Author(s):  
V.I. Boyko ◽  
◽  
S.A. Tkachenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Placental Dysfunction ◽  
Perinatal Pathology ◽  
Delivery Times ◽  
Case Rate ◽  
Major Factors

The objective: depression of frequency of perinatal pathology at women with decompensation form of placental dysfunction by improvement of the main diagnostic and treatment-and-prophylactic actions. Patients and methods. 154 pregnant women in gestation term from 22 to 40 weeks were surveyed. Depending on features of course of pregnancy and families of all surveyed it was divided into 4 groups. The group of the retrospective analysis was made by 45 pregnant women with decompensation placental dysfuction, the group of prospective research included 109 pregnant women of whom the main group was made by 38 women with decompensation form of placental dysfunction, the group of comparison included 47 pregnant women with the compensated form of placental dysfunction. The control group was made by 24 pregnant women with the uncomplicated course of pregnancy and labors. The complex of the conducted researches included clinical, ehografical, dopplerometrical, laboratory, morphological and statistical methods. Results. Use of advanced algorithm of diagnostic and treatment-and-prophylactic actions allows to increase efficiency of diagnostics of decompensation form of placental dysfunction for 33.3%, and rational tactics of a delivery leads to depression of perinatal pathology for 22.7%. Conclusion. Decompensation placental dysfuction is one of the main reasons for perinatal mortality and a case rate at the present stage. Use of the algorithm of diagnostic and treatment-and-prophylactic actions improved by us allows major factors of risk of this complication and the indication for change of tactics and delivery times. Key words: decompensation placental dysfunction, diagnostics, delivery tactics.

Ecological aspects of modernization of alcohol industry enterprises at the present stage of development

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Marianna Havryshko ◽  
◽  
Olena Popovych ◽  
Halyna Yaremko ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Ph Value ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
Alcohol Industry ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
World Industry

At the present stage of development, the entire world industry has faced the problem of rational use of renewable natural resources, in particular the most efficient ways of wastewater treatment and the use of accumulated waste in the production process as a secondary raw material. In particular, the alcohol industry, as one of the components of food, medical, chemical and various industries,leads to the formation of huge amounts of waste, including wastewater. The food industry, like any other industry, has a negative impact on the environment. Water bodies are the most affected by the food industry. Almost the first place in terms of water consumption per unit of production is the production of alcohol. Consumption of large amounts of water leads to the formation of wastewater, which is highly polluted and adversely affects the environment. Due to the high chemical and biological consumption of oxygen, specific color and odor, suspended solids, low pH value, the purification of such waste in the filtration fields and discharge into water bodies is not possible. The purpose of our work is: 1) conducting the analysis of the alcohol industry potential in Ukraine in recent years, and methods of waste disposal as a potential source for the development of bioenergy. 2) environmental aspects of the alcohol industry modernization at present stage of development and implementation of modern wastewater treatment technologies.

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